This the second instalment in an occasional series of profiles in which Montrealers tell us what they love about our city.

At 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, Georges Laraque might be the biggest vegan in the world. He also might be the world’s worst karaoke singer.

But those are two things the Montreal native and former Canadiens tough guy is very passionate about.

“Pang Pang is the best place to party,” Laraque said about the Pang Pang Karaoke Bar on Mackay St. “You know, usually guys of my age — 40 years old — they go to the bar, they go and join these big lineups and go party and stuff. Me, I tell my friends: ‘Let’s go karaoke!’ In the beginning, they’re like: ‘What? You want to do what?’ I just love it. I think I was a singer in another life.”

Which songs does Laraque like to sing?

Ex-Hab Georges Laraque at a fruit and vegetable stand on Parc Ave. in Montreal on Friday, July 20, 2018.Allen McInnis /
Montreal Gazette

Laraque’s personality matches his size and he has a huge smile that goes with it.

The 41-year-old retired from the NHL after the 2009-10 season, when he was limited to 28 games with the Canadiens because of a back injury and a falling out with GM Bob Gainey, but remains a very busy man. Laraque has an afternoon French radio show on 91.9 Sports, is part owner of drink companies BGL Energy and Rise Kombucha as well as ORAKI, a company that makes yoga and sportswear from recycled materials, and YogaTribes, which helps yoga enthusiasts book classes. Laraque also does public speaking for PETA, World Vision, Shriners Hospitals and about the benefits of veganism.

“Of course it’s my favourite restaurant, as well as the favourite of many people that come here and try the restaurant,” Laraque said with a big smile during a recent interview at his restaurant. “We try to do something unique that’s not like some stuff that people have seen elsewhere. You always try to bring new tastes and new stuff when you do a vegan restaurant because now there’s more and more. And it’s just awesome to get the comments of the people that are coming here and trying the different recipes. I love all the vegan restaurants, actually, because I love to support the fact that restaurants are 100-per-cent plant based and there’s many … there’s tons of them here (in Montreal). So other than mine, I visit pretty much all of them. I do a rotation.”

Laracque said his favourite vegan dish is a chili he makes himself using several types of beans, hot spices, avocado, mushrooms and tomato paste. He became a vegan in 2009 after watching Earthlings, a 2005 American documentary film about humanity’s use of animals as pets, food, clothing, entertainment and for scientific research.

“People can watch it online,” Laraque said. “It shows how badly animals suffer to end up on our plates, how bad it is for our health and how bad it is for the environment. When I saw it, I cried and that was it. That day I saw it, I went home and everything I had that had animal products in it I put it in a bag and I went to give it to a shelter.”

Laraque then met with nutritionist Anne Marie Roy, who put together a vegan diet for him. Pierre Gauthier, who was GM of the Canadiens at the time, was already a vegan, which made the adjustment easier for Laraque.

“Half the menu in the dressing room and the plane was vegan,” Laraque said. “So it was much easier transition in the dressing room.”

But that didn’t stop some of Laraque’s teammates from teasing him and putting grass in his locker stall.

Now, Laraque is in high demand to speak about veganism.

“Usually people that talk about veganism, they’re 100 pounds wet, they meditate, they’re yoga teachers,” Laraque said. “I do public speaking about veganism all around the world. Because I was a fighter, how I did it while I played hockey, what I did for protein? Because I’m so big and I’m a vegan, people are curious. There’s so many people who talk about veganism, but there’s not that many 300-pound black men that used to be a fighter who do. So it’s a clash. Because of that, I have a high demand.”

As a result, Laraque has been able to make friends around the world and he enjoys bringing them to Montreal to show them around his city.

“There’s so many places to take them,” Laraque said. “Even to this day, there’s still places that I take them that I didn’t even know. I just found out last week — and I bet a lot of people don’t even know this — the big Desjardins building on Peel, this is where they founded the NHL. I saw the big plaque on the wall there. It’s just awesome … it was in Montreal. A lot of people don’t know that — even hockey fans. There’s still things today that we’re still discovering in Montreal because there’s so many things that we haven’t seen and we didn’t know. Little things like this, it’s just awesome.”

When asked what makes Montreal special to him, Laraque said: “The culture here. Because there’s so many different cultures in Montreal and there’s so many parts of Montreal you could visit to actually feel and live within those cultures. It’s awesome the architecture of it also in Montreal, in Old Montreal.”

It also must be awesome to hear big Georges sing a Céline Dion song at karaoke.

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